Washington, April 1  Undergoing CT scans a number of times may increase a patient's risk of cancer, according to a study.

"We found that while most patients accrue small cumulative cancer risks, 7 percent of the patients in our study had enough recurrent CT imaging to raise their estimated cancer risk by 1 percent or more above baseline levels," said Dr. Aaron Sodickson, assistant director of Emergency Radiology at Brigham and Women''s Hospital and researcher at the Center for Evidence-Based Imaging in Boston.

Beijing  - China on Wednesday launched a partnership with the Gates Foundation to fight the growth of drug-resistant tuberculosis and develop a prevention model that could be used in other nations.

The partnership, announced at a World Health Organization ministerial meeting on tuberculosis, will be supported by a 33-million-dollar grant over five years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

New York - The United Nations programme fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria urged governments on Tuesday to replenish its coffer to make up a shortfall of 4 billion dollars for the 2008- 2010 assistance to victims of the epidemic.

The UNAIDS programme needed 13.5 billion dollars for the three- year period, but so far has only 9.9 billion dollars, which it attributed to the current economic crisis affecting the biggest donors to the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

Washington, Mar 31 : Killing mosquitoes in their water-borne larval stage of development can effectively control malaria in urban areas, according to a study.

Governments and NGOs worldwide are making a concerted effort to tackle malaria and a number of interventions exist to control its spread, including the use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs), sprays and repellents.

However, most interventions target adult mosquitoes, which can carry the parasite.

Washington, Mar 31 : An international team of researchers have developed a novel radiation-free technique that detects and eliminates breast cancer tumours.

The team including researchers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre have shown that combining a compound known as a gallium corrole with a protein carrier can effectively detect and remove tumours with fewer side effects.

Washington, Mar 31 : A new study in the U. S. has found a link between an increased number of birth defects in children of women who got pregnant in spring or summer and elevated levels of pesticides in surface water across the country.

Studying all 30.1 million births, which occurred in the U. S. between 1996 and 2002, the researchers found that women whose last menstrual period occurred in April, May, June or July were at increased risk for delivering infants with birth defects.

They also found that this period of increased risk correlated with elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in surface water across the country.